Page 4 of Highlander’s Beautiful Liar

“Verra well,” Alec said softly as he slid his sword from his sheath. “We have no choice. Let it be known that whoever fights with this man today will do so against the orders of the King.”

He didn’t expect it to make the men back down. They had been taught since birth to be loyal to their laird no matter what the situation, and it was clear that today they would do just that. Alec knew his men well, and he knew they would be as compassionate as possible. Only those that could not be subdued would die today.

“Kill them!” Seth screamed, and his men flew into action. Alec tensed, but he ignored everything around him. He only had eyes for Seth.

By the time Alec got within striking distance, the man fled. Gritting his teeth, Alec raced after him. If there was one thing he hated, it was a coward.

Pulling his horse up short, he slid off the beast and ran up the steps after Seth as the man tried desperately to make it to the tower. Unfortunately for him, he was too drunk to move quickly; Alec grabbed him by the shoulders, turned him around, and slammed him into the stone wall.

“Don’t think I haven’t seen what ye’ve done to these people. Some of the structures are burnt to the ground, the crops are withered, and while they starve, ye are getting rather fat around the middle. Ye deserve the hanging that awaits ye,” Alec snarled. “These people looked to ye, and ye have betrayed them.”

“Ye cannae have my clan!” Seth bellowed. He pulled a dirk from behind him and thrust it forward. Alec moved quickly and had no choice but to bring his sword down.

The man slid to the floor with a low moan and was dead in seconds. Anger washed over Alec. The man had deserved to die in front of hundreds but instead had chosen the coward’s way out.

Reining in his disgust, he strode back out to his horse and rode back to the battlefields. It looked like the Sinclair warriors had everything well in hand.

“Yer laird is dead,” Alec bellowed. “By orders of the King, ye will swear yer fealty to me or ye will find yerself without a clan. Make yer choice wisely.”

The fighting stopped instantly, and there was a mix of emotions on the men’s faces. Most of them looked relieved, but some just stared at him in disbelief, as though he were mad to think they would ever declare their loyalties to him.

One by one, they dropped their swords. It was enough for now. “Who takes responsibility for these men now?”

A hulking man with dark hair and an angry scowl stepped forward. “I’m Kane.”

“Kane. Come with me. I want a tour of these lands. Everyone else, gather the people. I’ll address everyone when I am ready.”

He didn’t look pleased, but Kane did as Alec asked. Silently, they rode side by side through the lands with Shane, Jamie, and Stephen behind them.

“I donnae want this transition to be difficult,” Alec said quietly. “I want ye to know that this has nothing to do with transgressions in the past. I mean to strengthen this clan, and I’ll need yer help to do that. So tell me, Kane. Will ye be fighting me every step of the way, or do ye care enough about yer clan to help me?”

“Seth was no prince, but ye have no right to step in. A MacKay should rule. To abide another is unthinkable,” Kane said shortly.

“’Tis not my choice to be here. I have been summoned by the King, and ye will step aside for the verra same reason. Be the bridge that I need, Kane. Help me.”

Before the man could respond, they were quickly joined by a dozen warriors who didn’t wear the MacKay colors. Alec recognized their leader and immediately curled his lip in disgust. “Innes Campbell. What might ye be doing here?”

“The MacKays are our allies. If ye have slain Seth MacKay, it will be the last thing ye ever do,” Innes growled. He was the younger brother of Mac Campbell, laird, but Alec knew his kind well. When he spoke on behalf of the laird, he was most likely interjecting his own wishes in the decree.

“I’m here by order of King Edward. We gave Seth MacKay a chance to ride peacefully to court. He rather violently declined the offer. I would not make a move against us if I were ye,” Alec said coldly. While Innes’s older brother Mac was a respectable laird, Innes was just as much of a weasel as his friend Seth. King Edward made it clear that if Alec could not take the clan in hand, the job would be given to Innes.

It was just as clear that King Edward didn’t want that, so Alec could only imagine the King’s anger if he failed.

Innes held out his hand expectantly, and Alec reluctantly gave him the letter. He didn’t want Innes to get his grubby hands on the paper much less on the clan itself. Although they were MacKay allies, the people deserved better.

The vile man grunted his disapproval and handed the letter back. “Fine. But that doesn’t mean that I have to leave. The MacKays will continue to have the Campbells as allies, but donnae expect that loyalty to extend to ye.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Alec muttered as he put the letter safely back in his satchel. “Do as ye will. I’m trying to discern how much damage yer friend has wreaked on his people. Feel free to join me. Perhaps ye can explain just what the hell Seth MacKay was thinking.”

Innes narrowed his eyes in anger, but he urged his horse into step with Alec and his men.

Alec ignored him completely. His first step to win over the clan was with Kane, and that was his only focus.

The water trickled down the walls as it mocked her. Cora’s throat was so dry, and yet, in Alec’s last bout of cruelty, he’d chained her to the middle of the prison so that she couldn’t reach the walls.

It was demeaning to lick the walls like an animal, but she would have done it in a heartbeat. There were days when she thought that if dying was her only means of escape, she would gladly take it. Then she thought of her family, her sister, and knew that she couldn’t give up. She needed to protect them.

Seth and Innes were careful. When they came to visit her, they made it very clear what would happen if she made a sound, and they never left a mark that could be seen outside her dress. She didn’t know why they would take such care unless they were afraid of what would happen if word got out that the two men were regularly beating on a prisoner, and a female one at that. She didn’t even know what they’d told the guards she’d done.